New York’s mission is to is to produce Gospel-centered churches that are reproducing and reaching every man, woman and child with the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
In this mission, we are focused throughout the state, but particularly in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany – better known as the I-90 corridor in upstate New York.
Of the 4-5 million people in our area, only 5-6% of the population are active evangelical Christians. Only 10% go to a church of any kind at least twice a year. People can be apathetic, but also thirsty for authentic connection and meaningful faith outside of the limited religious experience that they may have had here already. We have a long way to go in this mission. The average church plant focused on the suburbs in New York, if and when they reach self-sufficiency, will take on average of eight years to reach that point of self sufficiency: With partnerships we are interested in relationships. We want you to get to know the planter, the planter’s family, the area, and prayerfully consider becoming focused on a long term strategy of engagement with the people, community and family that is serving in the city you are interested in serving.You can do this by:
1. PRAYING Prayer is essential for the work of planting a church. Planters are stepping out of their comfort zones and church families to follow God’s leading. Their work is spiritually challenging and the warfare is overwhelming without a solid base of prayer support. Partners are needed who will be on prayer teams, conduct prayer walks, meet for special seasons of prayer, and adopt a neighborhood for which to pray.
2. SENDING Missions teams also play a strategic part of starting a church. They break ground through prayer walking. They provide the needed hands and help for outreach events that reach greater numbers in a community. They encourage the church planter and their team by their helping hands and hearts. Some individuals serve as short-term interns or lifelong team members for a church plant or as staff members. Some people even move up to the church planting city to be a part of the team. Whichever works best for you and your church, this is an important way to partner with a church planter to reach his focus city.
3. PARTNERING FINANCIALLY This part is about friendship and coming along beside someone to help them accomplish the vision of reaching their city through church planting. Partnership for us is more than being financial, it’s about friendship and getting to know each other. It’s about receiving wise counsel from people who are further down the road than the planter. It’s also about celebrating the way that God is working through people, and how Jesus is transforming lives. It’s also about helping a young church financially as they grow and become more and more self-sustaining. This doesn’t happen over night, so prefer long term partners because they are more effective and able to establish meaningful relationships with the planter and family. To begin talking about PARTNERSHIP, CONTACT TIM BISSELL.